


Failed Mission

by planetundersiege



Series: Klance Week 2018 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Blacking Out, Comforting, Crying, Doubt, Failed Mission, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forehead Kisses, Gay, Hugging, Klanceweek2018, Lance is pure, Leader, Losing, M/M, New leader, Red Paladin Lance (Voltron), Self-Esteem Issues, Ship, Short Story, Sweet, Voltron, failing, klance, klangst, lance comforting keith, lotor - Freeform, otp, prompt, self hate, shiro is dead, vld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-16 08:05:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13632153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/planetundersiege/pseuds/planetundersiege
Summary: Klance week 2018: Day 2: Failed mission/Leader.Keith is the new black paladin. He fails a mission and blames himself for everything, and only Lance can comfort him.





	Failed Mission

”We have to get him!”, Keith screamed as he flew the black lion, leading the others into battle against. They had taken down a galra fleet that had surprised them as they chased Lotor. They didn’t know that that had been his plan from the very beginning. Now the galra prince was far away in his ship along with some very important information about the rebels and the Voltron coalition that Voltron should have protected.

“It’s no use!”, Allura said over the intercom. “He’s too far away”.

“Yeah, he’s too far away, I can’t find him on the radar”, Pidge said.

Keith clenched his fists and bit his teeth.  
“We have to continue to search, we got too, we can’t give up now”.

The leader said those words with a heavy heart, they had to get Lotor, they just had too. They couldn’t let him get away with that information. What kind of leader would Keith be if he couldn’t get that information back?

He felt how his heart was aching.

Voltron sped up and flew into a random direction.

“What if we don’t find him?”, Hunk asked.

“We got to try!”, Lance shouted. “Keith, you can do it. Where are we headed?”.

Where are they headed?

He had to guess, he had to make the right choice.

“Head to the left”, Keith said, barely above a whisper as he was afraid that he had chosen wrong.

And he had.

For twenty minutes, they flew through the vast space and saw nothing, just a whole lot of nothing, nothing that showed that Lotor had been there. They had lost him, he was gone, and so many people’s lives were in danger now that Lotor had all their files on where rebel camps were placed. Think about how many innocent lives that also might be lost thanks to this huge mistake and loss. They had failed the mission, and Keith felt like he was the only one responsible for that.

What kind of leader was he? He didn’t even know how to lead properly, he wasn’t meant to be the leader. Why did Shiro have to die?

He was not the leader Voltron deserved, this just proved it. He just messed up, no matter what he did.  
“KEEP GOING!”, Keith screamed, not wanting to accept it.

He tried to breathe, but couldn’t calm himself down, not a single bit.

“Keith, he’s gone”, Lance said. “There’s no use”.

“NO!”.

He put his palms over his face as he tilted his head forwards, letting the tears drip down as his breathing sped up, the anxiety was killing him from inside and out. They had lost, it had been his fault. His fault and his fault alone. He felt sorry for all the people that would suffer in the hand of the galra thanks to him and his stupid mistake on which way they would go when they tried to follow Lotor. Him choosing wrong would cause many people to be placed in jeopardy. He wished he could redo that moment, but he couldn’t, not matter how much he wanted too, and he knew that one moment would hunt him for the rest of his life, for as long as it would be.

He spaced out.

 

Next thing he remembered was him opening his eyes and waking up in his room on the castle, and the moment he opened his eyes he jumped up into the air, causing someone to scream in shock.  
“WE HAVE TO FIND LOTOR!”.

He turned his head to see who had been screaming, and it was Lance.

“Keith, calm down, that fight was over hours ago”.

What?

“It… was?”.

Lance nodded.

“Yeah, Lotor escaped and then you blacked out. We were so worried for you and took you to your room the moment we came here. I couldn’t just leave you like that, so I decided to sit here and wait until you woke up”.

“How long… have I been asleep?”.

He saw how Lance sadly looked down at the floor.

“About four hours”.

_Four hours…_

That meant there really was no way to get to Lotor, not anymore. In that time span he could already be in another galaxy. They had given up.

The tears once again began to form in his eyes as he tried to comprehend what he just had heard from the fellow paladin.

“I… failed”, was the only thing he said as he lightly was shaking. “This is all my fault, I’ve failed as a leader”.

Lance gave him a curious yet worried glance.

“No, this is not your fault!”, he said. “Trust me, it’s not”.

Keith shook his head and bit his lip ever harder than before.

“But it is my fault Lance. I’m the leader now. It was me who gave orders on where we were going, it was entirely my fault that we flew in the wrong direction. You didn’t say the order, I did”, he said. “It _is_ my fault, and no one else’s. Not yours, not Hunk’s, not Allura’s, but mine, and only mine. I’m not the leader you all wanted me to be, I’m far from the perfect leader Shiro was. I wish he hadn’t died, he knew how to lead Voltron while I don’t. I can’t do anything right, this just proves it. I’m a bad leader Lance. Lotor now has info on were rebel bases are. People’s lives are at stake! Countless of people could die now, and all of that would be because of me, because I was the one who made it so we couldn’t capture him”.

Silence…

“Keith?”.

“Yeah, that’s my name. The name of the useless leader that can’t do anything right. I don’t deserve to fly the black lion, I don’t deserve to fly any lion, I just mess things up and make it harder for all of you”.  
“Keith…”.

“I don’t belong on the team, I should just leave. Someone should just take my place, Voltron would be way better off that way…”.

“KEITH!”.

Lance’s screams echoed through the room, causing Keith to freeze in place.

“I won’t let you just stand here and talk back about yourself. Listen to be, you are a good leader, you’re doing the best you can, and nothing more. Everyone makes mistakes Keith, Shiro did too, it’s not your fault you chose the wrong direction. You’re only human Keith, and you shouldn’t take all of this out on yourself. Yes we lost, and that sucks, but that doesn’t make you a bad leader, rather the opposite. A good leader can’t grow if they haven’t seen what failure is like, they fight to become better. So you shouldn’t feel bad Keith. We all love you and you’re doing your best. You will have many more chances to catch Lotor, as our leader. The black lion chose you for a reason, you are the one of us that is worthy and smart enough to lead Voltron. I know change is big, Shiro just died and now you’re the black paladin, change can be scary, but lives move on. Please accept that what happened wasn’t your fault. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. We do everything together, no matter what. Trust me on this one, you’re amazing”.

Keith silently stared at Lance and immediately dragged him into a hug, letting his tears run down Lance’s shirt, not caring anymore. He only wanted Lance, to be close to him and feel his warmth along with his comforting hug.

When Lance was here he didn’t feel like he was left out, when Lance was here he felt like people finally believed in him. He felt like he finally belonged, it felt like he finally was loved, that someone loved him even though he had lots of fault.

Keith was grateful, because he loved Lance too.

So without thinking he pressed his lips against his, just for a moment, but he turned red as they parted.

He expected Lance to scream or ask what he just had done, but he just tightened his hug around him and carefully kissed his forehead, trying to calm him down.  
“I’m here Keith, I’m always here for you, no matter what. I love you Keith”.

Keith took in Lance’s soothing voice, so comforting when he was as his absolute lowest. He still was there and cared, and he couldn’t be more grateful for Lance.

“Thanks Lance…”.

The boy smiled and ran his hand through Keith’s mullet and once again kissed his forehead, making both of them turn redder and redder, this was actually happening. They had just shared a kiss, and now they exchanged forehead kisses.

“Just sit down and relax a bit, I’ll go and make a milkshake that we can share, okay? That always makes me feel better. Is it okay if I leave the room for a while?”.

Keith nodded once again, Lance was so sweet and kind to him.

“Thanks Lance”, he said as the paladin disappeared in the doorframe. “I love you too…”.


End file.
